23 55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
24 1But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. (Luke 23:55-24:11 ESV)
“24 1But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb. Look at where these women are on Easter Sunday. The women find themselves in a painful place. Here on Easter Sunday, they find themselves in a very painful place.
This particular place is a cemetery. On Good Friday—that’s an odd name, isn’t it, for the day when Jesus experienced more pain than is even fathomable—how come we call it “good” Friday? But on Good Friday, the women watched the painful torture and crucifixion of Jesus. They watched his body placed in a tomb. They purchases spices and ointments. They rested on the Sabbath.
An on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb. Could there be any more painful place? This is a place where it seems that all their hopes, and all their dreams, and all their goals had come smashing to an end.
And the angels (Luke calls them “men” here, but later in Luke 24 they are called “angels”) ask the women a question: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?.
In other words, the angels are asking this: “What are you looking for? Here in this painful place, what are you looking for? What are you looking at?”Read More »Uncommon Life (Luke 24)
A few weeks ago I was in a waiting room at St. Jude hospital. Several Highland members and I were waiting with the Head family as their daughter Carson underwent her second lung surgery. Our large group of pink-shirted people filled the tiny waiting room, with the exception of a few seats.